A Southwest airfare sale spurred us to look at some options for a quick weekend trip in December, and much like 2019, we choose a weekend of wine tasting in Oregon's Willamette Valley. On this trip...
Blog posts from Oregon
Pacific Northwest, June 2022: Oregon food & drink
Portland On our first morning in Portland we wanted a relatively quick breakfast, so we opted for bagels at Bagel Land. I got the simple lox on an everything bagel - very reasonable at $7. Eric had...
Pacific Northwest, June 2022: Oregon wine tasting
Dominio IV - Our first wine tasting of the trip. Jose did a great job taking care of us and we enjoyed sitting at the high top outside on the patio. We even had a mini tour after the tasting was...
Pacific Northwest, June 2022: Oregon waterfalls
With an open afternoon and good weather we headed south out of the Willamette Valley to Silver Falls State Park to do some hiking. We'd been there on a summer trip in 2016, and we were hoping that...
Pacific Northwest, June 2022: introduction
Oregon and Washington are amongst our most visited US states, and with good reason — they have an wide range of natural beauty, plus great food scenes including amazing wineries and breweries....
Oregon 2021: wineries
Because of COVID we had to make reservations in advance for each place, so we only did 1-2 places per day, which forced us to relax at each a bit more than in previous trips. Arborbrook Our first...
Oregon 2021: Willamette Valley restaurants
Rosmarino Osteria Italiana, Newberg Probably our favorite restaurant in the valley (other visits), if they had been open on Wednesday we would have gone for our anniversary. Alas, this year they...
Oregon 2021: Willamette Valley sights
In addition to the coast and our wine tastings, we also checked out two parts of McMinnville, downtown and the Mason-Rivera Sculpture Garden. It's been a few years since we'd last been in...
Oregon 2021: coastal drive
We left our Monday free of wine tasting reservations in the hopes of visiting the Oregon coast, and thankfully, the weather cooperated with our plans. Our plan was to check out the section from...
Oregon 2021: Portland
Our Oregon trip was bookended by days in Portland. On Sunday morning, we checked out of the Holiday Inn and headed to the Gateway Breakfast House for breakfast. They were busy! After a short 10...
Oregon 2021: introduction
If you asked us in 2019 where we would go for our 20th anniversary, we likely would have replied with somewhere in Asia, or perhaps the Pacific. Fast forward to 2021, and we did end up along the...
Oregon Wine Tasting, Dec 2019
Since we are members of two wine clubs in the Willamette Valley, we wanted to get out to there to do some tasting of the wines that had been released and get a feel for what would be released soon....
Oregon: Willamette Valley – Food + Drink
Babica Hen Cafe — This was our second visit for dinner and as expected the burgers were still delicious. We opted for wine during this visit and found their choices just okay. I think beer is a...
Oregon: Willamette Valley – wine tasting
Dominio IV — Our first stop coming in from the coast, we didn't get a chance to taste on our last trip so Eric wanted to make this place a priority. We arrived to a small crowd that quickly thinned...
Oregon: Willamette Valley – where we stayed + weekend with friends
La Bastide B&B - We loved the two-course breakfasts and location of this B&B during our trip last fall, so when it was available, we jumped at the chance to stay here again. Thankfully our...
Oregon: Cannon Beach
For our overnight on the coast Cannon Beach was a good spot since it put us within walking distance of several restaurants. We had a free Hotels.com night to use, and one of the few places that had...
Oregon: the coast
After a leisurely drive from Portland we reached our first stop along the coast, Ecola State Park. The road through the park takes you through a lush green forest before ending at Indian Beach and...
Pacific NW: Willamette Valley, day 2
We met our friend from college, Nate Wall, at Day Wines for a tasting and tour. Got to try a bunch of different wines and have a great conversation about wine making methods. Our next destination...
Our Itinerary
2024 Trips
San Diego, CA (Jan)
Sarasota, FL (Feb)
Madrid, Spain (Mar)
Valencia, Spain (Mar+Apr)
Palma, Mallorca (Apr)
Croatia (May)
Long Island, NY (July)
Faroe Islands (Aug)
London, UK (Sept)
Puglia, Italy (Sept)
Matera, Italy (Oct)
Rome, Italy (Oct)
Mosel Valley, Germany (Oct)
Frankfurt, Germany (Oct)
London, UK (Dec)
Manchester, UK (Dec)
2023 Trips
San Diego (Jan)
Orlando (Feb)
Richmond, VA (Apr)
Northern Italy (Apr)
NC Mountains (May)
Long Island (Jul)
Wisconsin (Aug)
Chicago (Aug)
Oak Island, NC (Sept)
Brooklyn, NY (Sept)
Bordeaux + Rugby World Cup (Sep)
Castilla y León (Sep)
Seychelles (Nov)
Willamette Valley (Dec)
2022 Trips
Florida (Feb)
NC Mountains (Apr)
Washington DC (Apr)
Valencia, Spain (May)
Hilton Head, SC (May)
Pacific NW (Jun)
Long Island (Jul)
Florida (Sept)
Chicago (Sept)
Poland (Sept)
NC Mountains (Nov)
Euro Xmas Markets (Dec)